Alleged Rape of NCCU Student: (Duke Scandal)

[Drolefille]

Well she was there with the players, so there could conceivably be some DNA. However the er..."bodily fluids" tested were not a match for any of the players. Thus the defense thinks the paternity test will completely exonerate the team.

This case makes me so mad because all of the publicity and sympathy and attention could have been going to someone who was really raped and it became this whole poor vs. rich/black vs. white thing. While it isn't clear that she wasn't raped yet, that's where I'm anticipating this whole thing going. If it's fake, she should be prosecuted.

[Rain Man]

A major victory for the men's rights activists, as the rape charges have been officially dropped (and the "victim" was hung by her own rope, just as I had originally predicted).

*Rain Man erupts in cheers and applause*

Shame on you, Crystal Gail Mangum for attempting to imprison three innocent men by your lies.

Rape charges dropped in Duke case By AARON BEARD, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago

DURHAM, N.C. - Prosecutors dropped rape charges Friday against three Duke University lacrosse players accused of attacking a stripper at a team party, but the three still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges, a defense attorney said.

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Joseph Cheshire and attorneys for the other players have said for months the woman told several different versions of the alleged assault.

Cheshire said Friday that the accuser now says she does not know if she was penetrated, which he said led District Attorney Mike Nifong to dismiss the rape charges.

Nifong did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The accuser, a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University, has said three men raped her in a bathroom at a March 13 team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

The players — Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann — all say they are innocent. Their attorneys have consistently said no sex occurred at the party and have cited a lack of DNA evidence in the case as proof of their clients' innocence.

"It's highly coincidental," Cheshire said, that the charges are being dropped a week after the director of a private DNA testing lab acknowledged that he initially, with Nifong's knowledge, withheld from the defense test results showing none of the players' DNA was found on or in the accuser's body.

Testing also showed that genetic material from several males was found in her undergarments and body.

Link to article can be found here

[Honeykiss1974]

Duke D.A. Charged With Ethics Violations

Ethics Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Could Force Him Off Case, Legal Experts Say

By AARON BEARD

RALEIGH, N.C. Dec 29, 2006 (AP)— Ethics charges filed against the prosecutor at the center of the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case might constitute a conflict of interest that forces him off the case, legal experts said.

"It's hard for me to imagine how he can be effective as an advocate, with either the court or a future jury, when he has ethics charges pending against him … concerning his conduct of this very same case," said Joseph Kennedy, a University of North Carolina law professor.

The North Carolina bar filed the ethics charges Thursday, accusing District Attorney Mike Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct by making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion.


Read The Rest Here

[1browngirl]

Duke Lacrosse Accuser Gives Birth


Posted: Today at 10:40 a.m.
Updated: Today at 1:21 p.m.
Chapel Hill — WRAL has confirmed that the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case gave birth at UNC Hospitals on Wednesday.

Sources tell WRAL the woman had the baby by Cesarean section. She was not due until February.

The 28-year-old alleges she was attacked by three Duke University lacrosse players -- David Evans, 20, Collin Finnerty, 20, and Reade Seligmann, 20 -- at a March 13 team party.

A judge has ordered a paternity test although prosecutors and defense attorneys have said the child was not fathered by any of the players.

In December, rape charges against the three men were dropped. They still face kidnapping and sexual offense charges.

At the time of the alleged incident, the woman, a divorced mother of two, had worked for an escort service to help support her children and to pay for classes at North Carolina Central University.

[nikki1920]

Wow. I have NO words for her. Trifling comes to mind, though. *smh*

[tunatartare]

WOW.

They announced on the news yesterday that two out of the three players have been invited back to Duke and are allowed to re-join the lacrosse team if they want to. So far, it's not known if they're going to take Duke up on the offer or not.

[1browngirl]

Accuser changes story

New version comes from Dec. 21 interview

JOSEPH NEFF

Judge orders paternity test in Duke lacrosse case


In her latest statement to investigators, the accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape case changed her account again about when the alleged gang rape occurred, who attacked her and how.

Defense attorneys filed the statement in court today, arguing that it was more evidence that the woman is an unreliable witness.


The woman adjusted the timing of the assault to earlier in the evening, a time point preceding the well-documented alibi of one accused player, Reade Seligmann. The defense, however, introduced yet more alibi evidence for Seligmann: he was on the cell phone with his girlfriend during the height of the attack as the accuser now times it.

The new version of the events comes from a Dec. 21 interview by Linwood Wilson, chief investigator for Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. The statement marked the first time anyone from the District Attorney's office discussed the case with the woman since charges were filed in April. The interview came less than a week after a private laboratory director testified that he and Nifong agreed not to report DNA evidence favorable to the three accused players.

Read more here: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16436360.htm